This book is a history of Ukraine from the time of the ancient Greeks (Herodotus) to (almost) the present — 2021. The main reason I picked up this book is to understand why my grandparents (and great grandparents) came to Canada.
Here’s what I think was going on: In the late 1800’s, western Ukraine (Bukhovina) was part pf the Austro-Hungarian empire. Western Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire.
It was a time of rapid industrialization and urbanization. The average land holding by the serfs who did not move to the cities was something like 6 acres in eastern Ukraine. Subsistence level at best. Canada (and the US) were opening up the west to immigrant farmers. Approximately 600,000 eastern Ukrainians left before 1914.
My ancestors were part of that crowd.
Other take-aways from the book that struck me as interesting:
- What is now Ukraine was ruled by MANY different empires — Byzantine, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, Polish-Lithuanian, etc.
- During the 1st world war, in Canada, close to 4000 Ukrainians were interred and another 80,000 were required to report regularly to the police. They were consider Austrian — an enemy nationality.
- There is a long-standing anti-semitism in that area of the world. It was particularly evident in the 2nd world war. Ukraine was invaded by the Germans… Pogroms… Then invaded by the Russians (Stalin)… Pogroms… And became a vassal state in the USSR… More pogroms…
The book ends on a positive note for the future of Ukraine, but the 2022 invasion by Russia destroys that narrative.